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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905081">Dusty Beds</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengerofSquids/pseuds/AvengerofSquids'>AvengerofSquids</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Injury, Cave-In, Colorblind GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Creeper? Aw man, Gen, Hurt Dream, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda?, Loner Dream, Minecraft, POV GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), POV Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Platonic Cuddling, Realistic Minecraft, Respawn, Stabbing, Support, Temporary Character Death, Trapped, Whump, Whumptober 2020, but correct me if i'm wrong, get it out, i don't think this is bad enough to be graphic violence, i've got you, in this house we give sapnap stupid nicknames, or is there? you decide, warning for sapnap's potty mouth (which bad doesn't appreciate)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:33:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,925</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905081</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengerofSquids/pseuds/AvengerofSquids</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Woah, hey," Sapnap grabs onto George's shoulders. "Worrying won't fix anything. Dream's a lot of things, but he isn't stupid; a dumbass, for sure, but he knows better than to not have a respawn set up. If the worst happens, he knows where to find us."</p><p>.</p><p>Dream doesn't make it back home before sunset. That never happens.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; GeorgeNotFound &amp; BadBoyHalo &amp; Sapnap, Clay | Dream &amp; GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>418</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dusty Beds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was harder to write than the previous one, since I haven't written half these characters and conversations are always tricky for me, but I'm still glad I wrote it! I wish I'd been able to give Bad more screentime here but Sapnap kinda took over lol</p><p>Backstory? This isn't set in the same universe as the previous fic! Dream's a loner with a troubled past who's ended up bonding with these three losers :P This fic takes place a few months after they've gotten to know each other pretty well.</p><p>Written for the Whumptober 2020 prompts "Get It Out" and "Support/I've Got You."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dream's thirty minutes late.</p><p>Dream's thirty minutes late even though he's <em>never </em>late, and George is absolutely freaking out.</p><p>Sapnap is going to lose it.</p><p>"George, seriously, calm down. I'm sure he's just dug a hole somewhere for the night," Sapnap calls from where he's sprawled out across their makeshift couch. George ignores him and continues pacing by the door. "You know him, a few mobs wouldn't be able to take him down."</p><p>"He never does that though!" George shouts, whipping around to face his friend. "He'd rather run through a pack of mobs than hide somewhere for the night; the fact that he's not here means he's probably bleeding out somewhere!"</p><p>"Or maybe he lost track of time. He mentioned wanting a new village to trade with, so he could have traveled too far and realized he wouldn't make it back before nightfall."</p><p>George moves to open the door and Sapnap leaps off the couch and captures him in a bear hug before he can turn the doorknob, dragging him back towards the center of the living room. "Sapnap, quit it!"</p><p>"Nope!" Sapnap drops George on the couch, then flops down on top of him. George tries to squirm free but the taller man just wraps an arm around his shoulders and loops his legs around George's. "I know that if you open that door you'll disappear for the rest of the night, so just shut the fuck up and deal with it."</p><p>"Hey, watch your mouth Sappy!" Bad pokes his head through the kitchen doorway, then lets out a sigh when he gets a good look at the two of them. "Still no sign of Dream?"</p><p>"I can look out the window and check once stupid <em>Trapnap </em>gets off of me," George grumbles, jabbing an elbow into his friend's ribs. Sapnap just snickers. "C'mon, Bad, I can't be the only one worried here."</p><p>Bad glances up at the clock before seeming to remember that Dream had broken it last week. "No, you're right, it is weird that he's not back yet."</p><p>"See! I'm not overreacting!"</p><p>Sapnap yelps and finally releases George when the shorter man pinches him and manages to slip out from underneath his arm. "I'm not saying I'm <em>not </em>worried, but there isn't really anything we can do but wait for him."</p><p>"What do you mean? Can't we look for him?" George asks. "He went east, right? Surely we can find some clues."</p><p>"No, you muffinhead, are you crazy?" Bad blurts out, throwing his hands in the air. "There's, like, tons of mobs out there. Dream's probably the only one who could actually make it through the night without any trouble; we'd just get blown up by a creeper or something. Just wait until morning."</p><p>Sapnap nods in agreement. "Yeah, Dream can handle himself out there better than we can, and besides, if he's holed up somewhere there's no way we'd find him. We <em>have </em>to wait."</p><p>"But what if he's hurt?" George hisses, crossing his arms and scowling at Sapnap. "He could die while we sit around doing nothing!"</p><p>"I<em> know, </em>and that would suck, but he'd just respawn here in a couple of hours. No point getting us all killed."</p><p>George gapes at him, before blinking and shaking his head. "His respawn point isn't set here, idiot! You think I'd be this stressed out otherwise?"</p><p>"Wait, what?" Sapnap jumps to his feet, twisting around to glance at the beds. <em>One, two, three, four. </em>"His bed's right there, why wouldn't he respawn?"</p><p>"Have you ever <em>seen </em>him use it? Every time he crashes here he sleeps on the couch or shares with one of us; I don't think he's even <em>touched </em>it since we made it for him. And if he doesn't have a bed set up close by, we might not see him again for<em> weeks,</em> if he even does respawn!"</p><p>"Woah, hey," Sapnap grabs onto George's shoulders; he's trembling slightly and his voice is thick with unshed tears. "Worrying won't fix anything. Dream's a lot of things, but he isn't stupid; a dumbass, for sure, but he knows better than to not have a respawn set up. If the worst happens, he knows where to find us."</p><p>There's a moment of silence before Bad finally pipes up; the fact that he forgot to scold Sapnap for swearing is proof of his distraction. "I don't understand why he wouldn't use his bed though. . .maybe we just happened to never see him in it? I mean, he likes his privacy, so maybe he purposefully never used it while we were here."</p><p>George shakes his head, adjusting his goggles so he can wipe his eyes. "No, trust me, he hasn't. He always takes the couch; it's a deliberate choice. He doesn't want his spawn to be here."</p><p>That. . .hurts to hear, if Sapnap's being honest. Dream's always been weird around them, even months after their first meeting, and Sapnap's learned to just take his odd behavior in stride, but this is on a whole new level. It crosses the line from nerves to full-on paranoia, and it means that Dream <em>still </em>doesn't trust them.</p><p><em>If only he'd tell us what his fucking problem is instead of dancing around the issue and making us figure everything out ourselves, </em>Sapnap thinks, but it's hard to stay mad at Dream when he knows the man has genuine reasons for acting the way he does.</p><p>It's pretty obvious that Dream didn't become such a skilled fighter by whacking training dummies all day, after all, and the amount of PvP knowledge he has is honestly rather terrifying. You don't get that good at fighting if you're just doing it for fun.</p><p>Sapnap sighs, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm. "Okay, so what do you think we're supposed to do, then? Go on a wild ocelot chase in the middle of the night?"</p><p>"I don't know!" George pulls away from Sapnap, glancing at the door. "I don't know. It just doesn't feel right, leaving him out there and not knowing where his spawn is."</p><p>"Well, we know <em>your </em>spawn's here." Bad blurts out; Sapnap scowls at him, knowing where this is going, and Bad flaps his hands nervously. "We all shouldn't go out, but maybe just George? If he's fine with respawning. Sap and I can stay here and keep an eye on things."</p><p>"Why does it have to be George going out alone, though? I can do it! Or one of us could go with him!"</p><p>George rolls his eyes; it's hard to see it because of his goggles, but the exaggerated head motion he does makes his intentions pretty clear. "Going solo will make it easier to avoid mobs, and it'd mean losing less stuff. 'sides, your night vision sucks and I'm faster than you."</p><p>Sapnap shoves George playfully before pulling him into a hug. "You're just jealous that I'm fucking ripped compared to you, you tiny man. Bring your bow, don't be stupid, try not to die. If you get hurt or respawn, I'm not helping you get your ass around the house."</p><p>"Language," Bad pouts. "Don't worry, George, <em>I'll </em>help you if you get hurt, and I'm sure Sappy will too. He's just being mean."</p><p>George barks out a laugh before stepping away. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>George is not fine.</p><p>He shoves another spider away with his shield, then whips around and drives his axe into the skull of an approaching zombie. He starts to tug it free but is forced to abandon it and retreat when a creeper starts hissing behind him.</p><p><em>Why are there so many mobs out tonight? </em>George clambers down the ladder into their ravine, his foot slipping on the last rung and sending him tumbling to the ground. He lets out a groan and leans against the rough stone wall as he tries to come up with a plan.</p><p>Dream hadn't left much of a trail for him to follow, so he'd headed north in the hopes that Dream was holed up in the ravine somewhere. They have a pretty decent room set up for them to stay in during long mining trips, and it has a chest filled with emergency supplies; if Dream wasn't able to make it back to the house before sunset because he lost track of time, he probably went here.</p><p>"Dream?" George calls out faintly, not expecting a response. He can hear the rattling of a skeleton somewhere in the distance, but there are plenty of torches set up in the ravine so there aren't any mobs nearby.</p><p>George sighs, then pushes open the door and lights the burnt-out torches that line the walls. It's pretty clear that the bed here hasn't been touched in weeks; the blankets are coated with dust. However, when he opens the chest to bandage the gash on his arm--skeletons have pretty good aim considering they don't actually have eyes--George is taken aback by the absolute mess its been left in.</p><p>Sapnap has a bad habit of just tossing things into chests, but Bad always makes sure to leave it organized, and he was the last one to go on a mining trip, which means Dream's been here since last week.</p><p><em>That doesn't mean he stopped by today, though.</em> George ties off the bandage and, after a moment's hesitation, tucks the rest of the roll away in his pouch. He'd rather keep it with him in case another mob manages to get the jump on him, and they can always refill the chest another day.</p><p>There's wet mud smeared on the wall by the door.</p><p>George frowns, reaching out and poking it with a finger before jerking back when he realizes it's <em>red,</em> not brown like he'd originally assumed.</p><p>That's blood, and it's<em> fresh.</em></p><p>There's quite a lot of it, too.</p><p>George swallows, studying it as he tries to figure out what happened. From the looks of it, Dream was leaning up against the wall here for a while, and most of the blood is smeared roughly where his elbow would've been. <em>He probably hurt his arm or something, because that doesn't look like enough blood to be a chest wound.</em></p><p>George <em>hopes </em>it isn't a chest wound.</p><p>He steps outside, holding a torch on one hand and a shield in the other as he tries to find a trail. Now that he knows what to look for, he can see some bloody streaks on the lower rungs of the ladder; it seems like Dream hadn't been able to climb back up, because there are some more blood splotches leading towards the mineshaft.</p><p><em>Was he trying to gather some blocks and tower out? </em>George wonders as he enters the mineshaft. There are fewer torches than he'd expected, and the air is thick with dust. His goggles keep the worst of it out of his eyes, but it's getting harder to breathe.</p><p>George stumbles over some loose stone and his torch slips from his grasp and tumbles across the floor; it flickers out and he curses, because he's pretty sure he left his flint-and-steel back in the mining shack.</p><p>Something rustles in the darkness and George freezes, half expecting a spider to round the corner and pounce on him, but nothing happens. Holding his shield in a defensive position, he inches his way deeper into the tunnel system.</p><p>"You've gotta be kidding m- shit, goddamn it." A familiar voice hisses, followed by the sound of clattering rocks; George thinks he could cry.</p><p>"Dream!" There's a thud, and then George can finally see Dream's pale mask as he looks up from where he's seemingly crouched in a pile of rubble. "Dream, thank <em>god!</em>"</p><p>Dream jolts like he's been shocked, letting out a startled squawk at George's sudden appearance. "George, what- it's the middle of the night, why aren't you home?"</p><p>George rushes over to him, nearly tripping in his haste, and drops to his knees next to Dream. "What the <em>hell </em>were you thinking, staying out in the middle of the night like that? We've been worried<em> sick! </em>I almost thought you might've gotten yourself killed or something, and finding bloodstains in the mining shack didn't help. Did you pick a fight with an enderman or something?"</p><p>He reaches out to pull the younger man into a hug, but Dream pushes him away; not a friendly nudge, but a full-on shove, and George is offended until he remembers that Dream's hurt. <em>Right, probably best not to do that then.</em></p><p>"I grabbed some bandages from the mining shack, but we should really get you back to the house so Bad can take a look at you." George squints down at Dream; it's hard to get a good look at him in the darkness, but he's lying down and is practically motionless, which is making George nervous. "How deep is it? Should we just hole up until the morning?"</p><p>"George." Dream's voice is raspy, and he's speaking slowly, like <em>George </em>is the one they should be worrying about in this situation. "George, light your torch."</p><p>"I don't- I left my flint-and-steel somewhere." George is almost glad for the darkness, because it means Dream probably can't see the embarrassed flush painting his cheeks.<em> He probably still knows it's there.</em></p><p>Sure enough, Dream laughs, but it's quiet and doesn't last long. Then he's twisting around, presumably so he can get out his own flint-and-steel for George to use, but he's making these awful little sounds like every movement's hurting him and George wants to yell at him to<em> hold still.</em></p><p>"Hold on, Dream, you don't have to--" It's too late; he makes a triumphant noise and clumsily passes the tool over to George before going still again. Dream's panting now, the noise throaty and<em> wet, </em>and George is pretty sure he's started trembling.</p><p>The floor is damp underneath George's knees; it shouldn't be, with all the dust in the air.</p><p>George wonders, for a second, if it would be better to stay in the dark, but he knows they can't just sit here and do nothing until sunrise. Pretending nothing's wrong would only end up hurting Dream worse.</p><p>He lights the torch, then nearly drops it when he gets a good look at Dream.</p><p>George is almost glad he can't see the color red as vividly as everyone else can, because the cave's <em>painted </em>with it.</p><p>"Hey," Dream croaks, tilting his head back so he can smile up at George. He's half-buried in the rubble and several bloodstained chunks of rock are sticking out of his chest. "I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks."</p><p>"Dream, holy <em>shit,</em> I don't. . ." George's hands flutter anxiously as he tries to figure out where to start. "What <em>happened?</em>"</p><p>"Creeper." Dream says, like that's enough of an explanation. He must pick up on George's irritation, because he sighs and adds, "I couldn't climb the ladder since a spider jumped me and fucked up my arm, so I was trying to see if this mineshaft led to the surface. I didn't hear it until it was too late."</p><p>"Why didn't you just stay in the mining shack until sunrise? Now you're probably going to have to respawn!" George wraps his fingers around the slab of rubble pinning Dream's legs down and pulls it off of him; Dream yelps, squirming for a moment, then lies back down.</p><p>"I told you all I'd be back by sunset, and I do- I didn't want you to be worried." Dream says, running his fingers across his bruised leg. "I just wanted to get back to you guys."</p><p>"Next time, don't be a dumbass," George says, but he's smiling and there's something warm and fuzzy curling in his gut. "It's more important for you to stay alive. Is there anything we can do? I mean, you look like a pufferfish with all this stuff sticking out of your chest."</p><p>Dream lets out a wheezy laugh that quickly deteriorates into a shuddering cough. George grips his hand and doesn't let go until he's breathing normally again.</p><p>"I dunno." Dream frowns at the pieces of rock that have buried themselves into his ribcage. "Can you pull the big ones out? It's kinda hard to breathe."</p><p>George sputters. "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to pull sharp things out of wounds, Dream."</p><p>"I'm just gonna respawn anyway, it's not a big deal. I'd like to actually be able to talk to you while I'm still here."</p><p>"Dream, shut up. Where's your spawn set? And don't say the house," George warns when Dream opens his mouth. "I know it's not there."</p><p>Dream tilts his face away and mumbles an apology; George imagines his eyes are squeezed shut behind the mask. "I have. . .there's a place set up across the river. My bed's there."</p><p>"Okay." George lies down so that he's curled up next to Dream. The younger man twitches but doesn't pull away. "Okay, then I'll meet you there. <em>Promise </em>me you'll meet me there."</p><p>Dream's silent, but George can see his jaw tense.</p><p>"<em>Dream.</em>"</p><p>"I promise." Dream breathes, bringing a hand up to grip his mask. He holds it so tightly his fingers go pale. "I can- I'll do that. I'll find you at the river. Where we went fishing."</p><p>"Sounds good." George lets his arm flop to the side; after a moment's hesitation, Dream reaches out and takes it. George chooses not to say anything about how tightly Dream's holding onto him.</p><p>They stay like that until sunrise.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>and then Bad showed up with a healing pot and everything turned out fine (I jest but that probably did happen lol, up to you; I left whether Dream made it through the night open-ended on purpose)</p><p>Will I write more for this AU? Idk, I like the dynamic they have here but I don't have an actual story in mind. Maybe I'll just do some more one-shots or something.</p><p>Speaking of AUs, the amount of positive response I received on the previous fic was INSANE so I'm definitely gonna write a whole story for that. I've spent the last few days solidifying the plot and I'll start outlining soon. Expect the first chapter sometime in late October/November, depending on how many Whumptober fics I write and how many college papers I have to write.</p><p>btw, did anyone watch today's stream? That crap HURTED and I can't WAIT to see the fics that come from it. I wanna draw a scene or two from it if I have time; I'd write but I don't wanna add anything else to my fanfiction bucketlist because it's already so long.</p><p>Please reblog this on tumblr, it'd really help more people find my work: https://avengerofsquids.tumblr.com/post/631466628552491008/dusty-beds-mcyt-whumptober</p></blockquote></div></div>
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